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It
has already slashed prices of its vehicles in the U.S., China
and other markets as it puts sales growth ahead of profit
margins, which are still at higher levels among automakers.
The Austin, Texas-based company has also offered other
incentives to reduce inventory in a strategy that CEO Elon Musk
said was part of Tesla's recession playbook.
The new S and X "standard range" models are priced at $78,490
and $88,490, respectively. They are $10,000 cheaper than the
previous lowest-priced models and are available for delivery
between September and October, the website showed.
"If the standard range doesn't deliver the kind of quality Tesla
drivers expect that's an issue, but if what you get from a
standard doesn't diverge much from the premium, then existing
drivers will baulk," said Danni Hewson, head of financial
analysis at AJ Bell.
The new Model S has a driving range of up to 320 miles (515 km),
lower than the regular dual motor and tri-motor Plaid variants
that offer up to 405 miles and 396 miles, respectively.
Model X SUV has range of up to 269 miles, well below its more
expensive versions that offer up to 348 miles.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on
the new versions. Its shares were down 0.8% in trading before
the bell after gaining nearly 95% so far this year.
The world's most valuable automaker had last month said that
operating income and revenue were pressured by lower average
selling price and lesser sales of its more expensive models.
In the second quarter, it sold 19% more Model X and S, its
oldest vehicles in the market, from a year ago.
(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey, Abinaya Vijayaraghavan and Akash
Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Jamie
Freed and Arun Koyyur)
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